MS and the COVID-19 vaccines
Can I get a COVID-19 booster vaccine? Are the coronavirus vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca or Moderna "live" vaccines?
We’ve spoken to leading healthcare professionals to help answer your questions about COVID-19 vaccines and MS.
Your own MS team can give you more advice based on your circumstances, treatments, and whether getting a COVID-19 vaccine is right for you.
We updated this page on Friday 24 April 2026 with an update on the spring spring 2026 booster campaign across the UK.
- Can I get a COVID vaccine if I have MS?
- Can I get the COVID vaccine at home?
- Can I get I get the spring 2026 COVID vaccine booster?
- Can children with MS get the COVID-19 vaccine?
- Can I have a COVID-19 vaccine if I'm having an MS relapse or take steroids?
- Will a COVID-19 vaccine interfere with my other medications?
- What about COVID-19 vaccine side effects?
- Are the coronavirus vaccines ‘live’ vaccines?
- Can I get the COVID-19 vaccine if I’m pregnant?
- How do the COVID-19 vaccines work?
- Do any of the COVID-19 vaccines contain egg or animal products?
- How do we know the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective for people with MS?
1. Can I get a COVID vaccine if I have MS?
COVID-19 vaccines are not available on the NHS for everyone with MS (multiple sclerosis). But some people with MS can get a COVID booster jab. These usually happen in spring and autumn each year.
Who’s eligible for a COVID booster jab can change each time. So it’s worth checking back to see if it’s recommended for you.
Read about the latest COVID booster jabs
DMTs and COVID-19 vaccines
Some disease modifying therapies (DMTs) might affect the timing of COVID jabs. Or might mean you’re now recommended the vaccine.
Read more about DMTs and COVID-19 vaccines
Avoid the scammers
If the NHS gets in touch to arrange your vaccine it could be by phone, letter or both. A genuine contact from the NHS won’t ask for payment or for you to send personal documents to prove your identity.
2. Can I get the COVID vaccine at home?
The NHS has asked all vaccination sites to be accessible with reasonable adjustments for people who need them.
If your MS means you can’t get to a centre for your jabs, your GP or local NHS should arrange it at home.
Find out about booking COVID-19 jabs in your nation
3. Can I get the spring 2026 COVID vaccine booster?
Some people with MS across the UK can get a free COVID-19 vaccine booster this spring:
- anyone aged 75 years and over (or turning 75 by the end of June 2026)
- residents in a care home for older adults
- people with a ‘weakened immune system’. That can include people who take certain DMTs for MS. For example, that might include ocrelizumab, fingolimod, siponimod and ozanimod. Your MS team can tell you more.
Carers and household contacts
Carers and household contacts aren’t on the list for the booster this spring - unless covered anyway by one of the other groups (over 75 for example).
The government vaccine advisers have said in the past that’s because the vaccine doesn’t have a strong or lasting effect on stopping COVID-19 when it’s only mild or has no symptoms.
So it doesn’t have a big effect on people passing on the virus. On the booster list, they’ve put only the kinds of people at higher risk from severe COVID-19. The booster does help to stop that.
When can I get the spring 2026 COVID booster?
The s[ring 2026 COVID boosters will start from April, depending where you are in the UK.
You might be able to book the date for your jab now. Check the links below for where you live. If your usual government or NHS information hasn't yet updated where you are, check again in a few days' time.
You’ll usually be invited around 6 months after your last dose, but you can have it after only 3 months.
If you’re not contacted by the NHS about booking this booster, each nation has NHS or government information about the process for getting the booster jab.
You might need to contact your GP or neurology team if you don’t hear from the NHS. Online and telephone booking isn’t set up in all nations.
Find out about COVID-19 vaccines in England
Find out about COVID-19 vaccines in Scotland
Find a link to your local health board for COVID-19 vaccines in Wales
Find out how to book a COVID-19 vaccination in Northern Ireland
4. Can children with MS get the COVID-19 vaccine?
Children with MS can get the COVID-19 vaccine if they're recommended for the booster jabs.
Read the MS International Federation information about vaccines for young people with MS
5. Can I have a COVID-19 vaccine if I'm having an MS relapse or take steroids?
Our medical advisers recommend not having the vaccination while you're having a relapse.
They also advise waiting two weeks after completing a course of steroids to treat a relapse, before being vaccinated.
6. Will a COVID-19 vaccine interfere with my other medications?
Our medical advisers say you should wait two weeks after completing a course of steroids to treat a relapse, before being vaccinated.
Our medical advisers don’t think the COVID-19 vaccine will stop DMTs from working. They say this because of what we know about the way these vaccines work, and evidence from studies of other vaccines and MS. At the moment, we’re not sure if a COVID-19 vaccine will interfere with any other medications you might be taking.
No one should stop their MS therapy unless specifically requested to do so by their MS team.
Your MS team can answer specific questions about your own circumstances.
Read our medical advisers' consensus statement on DMTs and COVID vaccines
7. What about COVID-19 vaccine side effects?
Some people report no side effects at all from COVID-19 vaccines.
When people do notice something, the most common reactions are headaches, arm pain, body aches, chills or fever lasting a few hours to a few days. Over-the-counter painkillers, like paracetamol, can help with this.
Some of the possible side effects are similar to MS symptoms, including tiredness and muscle pain. A fever can make your MS symptoms worse temporarily, but they should return to how they were, after the fever is gone. But if you’re worried about any symptoms, you should contact your doctor or MS team as you usually would.
We know about these possible side effects because thousands of people taking the vaccines were monitored during the clinical trials. And when people report new side effects to a doctor or nurse (or use the Yellow Card scheme) this is recorded and the information about the vaccine is updated. That way, there’s ongoing monitoring for side effects in the months and years after the vaccine is given.
We also have information from the MS Register, where people with MS have answered questions about vaccine side effects they might have noticed.
Read more about the MS Register survey of vaccine side effects
Because none of the licensed vaccines are "live vaccines" it’s impossible to catch the coronavirus from the vaccine.
8. Are the coronavirus vaccines "live" vaccines?
The approved UK coronavirus vaccines are not "live" vaccines.
A "live" vaccine contains a weak version of the virus or bacteria they prevent. Many neurologists would suggest you avoid live vaccines if you’ve recently taken certain DMTs or high-dose steroids. This is because although the virus or bacteria that the vaccine contains is weakened, there is still a small chance that it can cause disease in people with immune systems that have been weakened by DMTs.
The approved vaccines for COVID-19 work in a different way.
9. Can I get the COVID-19 vaccine if I’m pregnant?
The UK government vaccine advisers (the JCVI) no longer recommend everyone automatically gets the COVID vaccine if they’re pregnant.
They now say the vaccine should be offered as part of the booster jabs in spring and autumn, if you’re in one of the recommended groups. Pregnancy on its own might not always be a recommended group.
Talk to your doctor or nurse about COVID vaccination. They’ll know the latest evidence on safety, which vaccines to have, and whether you’re in any special clinical risk group.
Read more on the UK government’s COVID-19 vaccine guidance for pregnant women
10. How do the COVID-19 vaccines work?
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is what’s known as a "messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine". The Moderna vaccines also work in this way. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has a different way of working - it’s known as a "viral vector vaccine".
Messenger RNA - using the genetic code
The messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines don’t contain any pieces of the actual coronavirus. Instead, they contain part of the genetic code of the virus, carried by the mRNA. These vaccines work by injecting this part of the coronavirus's genetic code, which trains the body’s immune system to attack coronavirus if it’s exposed to it.
You can read more about the way these 2 vaccines work on the Pfizer and Moderna websites - the drug companies which have developed them.
The Oxford vaccine – a "viral vector vaccine"
The other vaccine has been developed by the University of Oxford and drug company AstraZeneca. It’s known as a "viral vector vaccine". It uses a weak version of the virus that causes the common cold in chimpanzees. This helps it get into the body like an actual virus would. But in the vaccine, this virus has had its genetic code changed so that it can’t actually cause disease in humans.
The change also means it’s got the genetic code for one particular part of the coronavirus - the "spike protein’" It’s just that, a spike on the outside of the virus that it uses to get inside our cells.
The vaccine makes the same spike so our immune system can recognise it if the actual coronavirus gets in - and then fight it off.
11. Do any of the COVID-19 vaccines contain egg or animal products?
None of the 3 available COVID-19 vaccines contain egg or animal products.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was made using human kidney cells.
12. How do we know the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective for people with MS?
All new medicines have to go through rigorous safety tests in clinical trials – including vaccines. This includes 3 stages of clinical trials where people who take the vaccine are very closely monitored. Researchers constantly check the safety and side effects through these trials.
Although the trials for the coronavirus vaccines were accelerated at the height of the pandemic, safety processes have still been carried out as normal.
The process was quicker for COVID-19 because the experts prioritised and checked data as it was produced - rather than waiting until after everything was completed as they usually would. So they could speed up the process while keeping it thorough.
Any COVID-19 vaccine is only approved once it meets these robust standards of effectiveness, safety and quality.
Association of British Neurologists
The Association of British Neurologists (ABN) say they don’t expect that COVID-19 vaccines will worsen someone’s MS – for example, by causing a relapse. And they have no reason to believe these will be dangerous in people with MS, including people taking immunosuppressive drugs.
We don't know for sure that the vaccines will work for everyone with MS. It’s possible that people on some MS treatments might have a reduced response to the vaccines.
This could happen because vaccines work by triggering an immune response and DMTs work by dampening down the immune system. This effect from the DMT might change over time. So you may have a reduced response for some time after an infusion, for example, but this might not be permanent.
Our medical advisers say that even a reduced response is likely to be better than none, so you should still get vaccinated if you’re on a DMT that might affect the vaccine like this.
Your own MS team can give you more advice, based on your circumstances, any treatments you take, and on whether getting a COVID-19 vaccine is right for you.
One small study has looked at how effective the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine might be for people taking cladribine, fingolimod or ocrelizumab. Read about this Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine research
Read our medical advisers’ statement on treatments and COVID-19 vaccines
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